An example of a feeder of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,508 (Kleinsasser) and this type of feeder has become very successful and is widely known as a wet/dry feeder in view of the fact that the animal can take dry feed from the shelf of the feeder or can apply water into feed discharged into the trough to take the feed in the trough in wet condition.
The intention is that the animals themselves control the amount of water supply by providing nipples in the trough which can be actuated by the animal to discharge water into the trough to mix with the feed. One advantage of this type of feeder is that the animals can mix the feed to the consistency they prefer so that they are encouraged to eat as much as possible by ensuring that they are not discouraged from eating by the feed being too dry or too wet. It has been found that this type of feeder has considerable increase in weight gain for the animals over conventional dry feeders.
Feeders of this type can either be double sided that is the feeder has two sides each of which can be accessed by a different set of animals so that generally the feeder is placed in a fence line to supply feed to animals in two separate panic. Other type of feeders are however single sided so that they have generally a vertical rear wall with the trough presented forwardly of that rear wall and the animals accessing the feeder only from the trough side of the rear wall.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,926 of the present inventor issued Jun. 24, 1997 is disclosed a feeder of the above type. In this feeder, the height of the shelf from the trough is adjustable so as to accommodate a change in size of the animals from a smaller size up to a larger size as the animals grow.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,083 (Kleinsasser) issued Oct. 19, 1999 is disclosed a feeder of the above type. In this feeder, the height of the side wall of the trough from the base of the trough is adjustable so as to accommodate a change in size of the animals from a smaller size up to a larger size as the animals grow.
Feeders of this type are designed and manufactured for hogs from weanlings up to finishers and the above adjustable types can be used in some circumstances to accommodate growth or different feeders of fixed dimensions for different sizes of animal may be provided.
One problem which has existed since the invention of this type of feeder is that the amount of water released into the trough can vary widely so that in some cases too much water is fed into the trough so that the feeder becomes overwhelmed with consequent blocking of the feed supply to the shelf. Of course the presence of the excess water also inhibits the feed intake of the animals. In other cases too little water is supplied which can again restrict feed uptake.
Many attempts have been made to overcome this problem by various techniques including controlling the pressure of the water supply to the nipples so that the amount dispensed is reduced.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,832,356 (Kleinsasser) issued Nov. 16, 2010 is disclosed an arrangement of this type in which water is normally supplied through a first water supply line which has a series of nipples controlled by the animals. However, while the weanlings are very young the first water supply line is closed off and water is supplied from a second supply line which is managed by a timer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,632 (Thomas) issued Oct. 26, 1992 is disclosed an arrangement of this type in which the animals are free to operate as the nipples at their own volition but an additional sensor is provided in the trough which acts to control a valve in the supply line to prevent the water level exceeding a predetermined maximum.
Animal activated watering valves have been known for many years and are widely used. One example is the “Stingy Nipple” nozzles manufactured by Jalmarsons. This valve comprises a hollow nipple body and an actuator which is biased against an internal 0-ring seal by means of a conventional coil spring. The water actuator is biased to the neutral position in approximately the center of the hollow nipple body. When the animal desires a drink of water, the water may be activated by the animal's biting on the nipple body or otherwise moving the actuator. This causes the water actuator to be deflected from its neutral bias position, breaking the seal between the water actuator and the internal 0-ring. This in turn causes water to flow out of the nipple body for the animal.
One drawback of this type of nozzle waterer, is the weakness associated with the spring biasing member. While springs are well suited in applications involving compression, they are much less durable when the compression involves a lateral component as well as a longitudinal component. Such lateral component eventually leads to breakage of the spring. Consequently, many of these types of watering apparatus require the springs to be changed relatively frequently due to the breakage. As a result, numerous attempts have been made to replace the spring biasing member with a more resilient substitute.
These efforts have included the apparatuses included in the Sparks, Freehaufer, and Lang patents. These devices all substitute some material in place of the spring mechanism in order to bias the actuating pin into a neutral position.
Lang U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,685 discloses an animal actuated drinking valve having a tubular body member encasing an actuating pin urged forward by an elongated resilient biasing member. This forward biasing creates a fluid tight seal with an 0-ring within the tubular body member. Deflection of the actuating pin from its neutral biased position causes the seal between the 0-ring and the actuating pin to be open, resulting in the flow of liquid through the tubular body. The main body portion of the Lang biasing member is generally rectangular in shape and engages the inside surface of the tubular body. The biasing member includes a reduced forward portion cylindrical in shape which engages the rear surface of the sealing flange of the actuating pin.
Freehaufer U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,570 discloses a nipple type waterer with a resilient elastomeric plug functioning as both a spring and a flow regulating orifice. The elastomeric plug is designed for threadable engagement within the flow housing. The forward end of the resilient elastomeric plug contains a seal ring concentrically surrounding the orifice running longitudinally through the plug. The seal ring creates an annular sealing contact with the rear surface of the actuating pin and which maintains the actuating pin in a normal fluid tight sealing relation with a conventional 0-ring. As with the Lang device, deflection of the actuating pin from its normal biased position causes fluid to flow through the waterer.
Sparks U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,225 discloses another spring-less nipple waterer valve having a valve body in which a valve member is positioned and having a head projecting in bearing engagement with the abutment member of one end of the valve body. Contact between the apex portion of the abutment member and the valve member causes the valve member to maintain a neutral fluid tight seal against the 0-ring within the valve body. Deflection of the valve member of Sparks causes a fluid flow in the valve body similar to that in the Freehaufer and Lang patents,
Water is not only important as an individual ingredient; it affects the feed intake of the animal as well. In the barns using the above feeder, too much or too little water will impact feed efficiency and performance.
In a feeder of the above type, the right amount of water is typically indicated by a thin film of water covering the bottom of the pan.
In the above feeder, the right water flow is between two and four cups per minute depending upon the age and size of the animals. Correct water pressure varies with the size and age of the animals: The correct amount of water for just weaned pigs should start at 2 cups/min and increase to about 3 cups/min when they achieve nursery size; grow/finish pigs should have water sized at 3-4 cups/min.
The water nipples presently available provide an arrangement which requires a constant water pressure in order to maintain a uniform water flow. However in barns the water pressure can vary from feeder to feeder and over time so that the amount of water supplied varies and typically fails to meet the above stipulated amounts.